Laurent-Perrier Brut 2002

There hasn't been a widely raved-about vintage in Champagne for quite a while now;
although there have been good years (2002 especially so, and for me 2004 also
springs to mind) there hasn't really been a 'buzz' like that which surrounded
the 1996 vintage when the wines were released. Certainly 1996 was the last vintage
which prompted me to active seek out a range of bottles to add to the cellar, primarily to
provide future drinking pleasure of course, but also as I thought it would be
interesting to see how these different wines, from the likes of
Roederer,
Pol Roger,
Pierre Gimonnet and others,
aged. Quite a few have made it into the line-up for my 15-years-on tasting which
is coming up very soon, and I'm looking forward to revisiting them.

Moving on from 1996, the subsequent years were a little lean, giving dedicated Champagne drinkers
little to celebrate. The 1997 growing season was difficult, and although my
experience is not broad few wines have really impressed. One exception is the
1997 Grand Année from
Bollinger, which although tight and
slightly metallic when tasted on release has revealed unexpected charm when
tasted much more recently, as has the 1997 RD which I tasted during
a visit to Bollinger. The
1998 vintage received a lot of positive press, wines that I have been impressed
by including 1998 Lanson,
1998 Pol Roger and
1998 Krug, and so these wines may well be
worth seeking out, especially as they have the added benefit of a little
in-bottle maturity now. Thereafter came 1999, a year blighted by hail early on
and rain later, and as such not a great vintage but at least a good one. There
are one or two great wines of course, but they are perhaps the exception rather
than the rule. The year 2000 did not bring the magical vintage many hoped for
and which a few regions - Bordeaux
and the Douro for instance - were blessed with. And 2001 was a complete washout,
the vines drowned by torrential downpours, sufficiently miserable for the
majority of houses to omit a vintage release.

And then came 2002, at last a vintage to get truly excited about; it doesn't
seem to have the same 'buzz' that 1996 generated, or perhaps I missed, but the
quality is undeniable (and possibly superior to that found in 1996). An
exceptionally cold winter kept the vines dormant until mid-March, and spring was
dry and sunny, perfect for flowering. There were a few days during the summer
when the weather was not so benevolent, but there was no significant harm from
the light hail and rain that fell on the vines. Warm days and cool nights
brought the fruit to a balanced ripeness and the harvest kicked off in mid- to
late-September. The wines have, ever since they have been available for tasting,
been receiving rave reviews. Much of my early experience was at the annual
Champagne Information Bureau Tastings, when all the top houses roll into London
with their latest vintages and non-vintage bottlings. There were plenty of high
quality wines in evidence at the
2008,
2009 and then
2010 tastings. Many
wines have now been released, and are being - in many cases - eagerly snapped up by Champagne fans.

The latest wine from this vintage to come my way is the 2002 Brut from Laurent
Perrier. As in other recent vintages this is a blend of 50% Chardonnay and
50% Pinot Noir, the former from the grand cru villages of the
Côte des Blancs and the latter from the
Montagne de Reims.
In the glass this has a rich golden hue, not deeply coloured,
but clean and promising, full of vibrant pigment. With a very exuberant bead, with torrents
of bubbles streaming upwards, this is obviously still a very young wine. On the
nose it has smoky clean fruit, very expressive, with lightly nutty notes, but in a fresh and rich style rather than
anything suggestive of oxidation. It is a light, clean, oatmealy, cashew-nut aroma, which comes with
some finely defined fruit, yellow plum skin, pear skin and sweet, golden orchard fruits. There is a lovely gritty
sense to it as well, suggesting deep concentration. With a little more time, it
shows a more caramelly edge. The freshness comes through on the
palate too, with a tense streak of acidity upon which sit the primary fruit elements,
giving the wine a really seductive depth and composition. There is a lot of textured, tangible
substance here, a lot of solid matter wound up within the gentle texture of the wine.
It holds on to its early sense of poise with a fine, vibrant and prickly mousse, and
its fresh acids. That more caramelly tone appears here too, bringing a softer edge to the bright fruit. A very lively finish, long
and energy-filled, with more than a suggestion of appealingly bitter fruit pith here. This is just
delicious now. 17.5/20 (21/11/11)